Friday, July 31, 2009

I am now accepting donations to help me buy a donkey! It all started a few years ago when I began having seizures and could no longer drive a car, or even ride as a passenger without causing serious medical discomfort. Soon after realizing my new isolating plight I met an old man on Reems Creek Rd in Weaverville NC who was raising midget ponies, he loved his midget ponies so much he teared up talking about them & he said they were his only joy... after hearing him talk a flash of brilliance popped into my travel weary mind that I needed something to ride on that was just my size! Over the years I kept my wish alive, letting it evolve with my changing life- but as my situation became more 'small pony' friendly the economy became a monster. A monster that gobbled up all my money and left me rather poor.*Donkeys are a hella expensive ya'll! Ranging around $500-$800 for one that will have been socialized correctly (with other animals) and will be friendly (with humans). You might be wondering why I don't want a horse or small pony but rather a donkey which will Hee-Haw all through the day and night!?! Donkey's are awesome creatures...they are just my size to ride on, they have minds more like dogs then horses, they do not need to eat any gluten grains as other livestock because it will make them get a fat neck and get sick (yay, i can feed my donkey safely with grass and hay!), they are very loving and loyal if you care for them right, they protect other animals from dangers like coyotes, they've got great personality and I am a donkey magnet! Donkeys are also magical fury cuteness... did I mention we can look eye to eye?!Having a donkey to ride on would liberate my inability to get around very easily (I can only ride my bike so far in the rural mountains before I am exhausted completely). This would be a long term dream come true - some girls want fancy cars & a nice house, but I just want a donkey to be friends with.*BTW- I already have a name picked out, and it's going to be Ju Ju Bean...oh and this is going to be our theme song together.Go HERE and read about what neato animals donkeys really are! Then if ya want to donate to my Operation Liberation By Way Of Donkey, shoot me an email (or paypal it) at lesrichard {at} aol [dot] com or leave a comment about it here. :)

11 comments:

Hey Linda!That is wild- too bad it's all the way in california! I did write a local horse rescue place called Star Ranch to ask if they ever have donkeys for adoption. It looked like the adoption fees were almost as expensive as buying an already trained donkey though (approx. $400 for the horses).

Yes, yes, yes. Once in the wild winter of West Seattle (last winter) a woman from Canada wrote to us and said she was building a tiny wheelie home and would be using DONKEY-POWER. It is no wonder after reading your links to the donkey knowledge stuff. This is perfect, and it will happen. Click those beautiful red shoes,and say "There's no place like JuJuB ...." It's happening!Mokihana

I am so happy to hear you would like to become the guardian of a Donkey!Did I ever mention to you that we have two donkeys? A mother and a son. Miss Lovely and Mr. Grady. I want to tell you that they are amazingly special beings. They are the most precious creatures on earth, and it is true--they are very gentle and extremely intelligent. Both my husband and I adore our donkeys. The BLM (bureau of land management) was having an event in Southern California at the Santa Maria fairgrounds for people to purchase donkeys and mustangs that the govt. had removed from free range land. They cost practically nothing--$125.00. At the time we were considering getting miniature donkeys, so we went more or less just to check things out for fun. We ended up bringing home a mother and a son. Beautiful and adorable. BUT they were wild as wild could be. And we had NO EXPERIENCE. We barely had time, but came home just in advance of the people who volunteered to deliver them to us--they had a horse trailer, and were kind enough to trailer them the 100 miles or so for us because they lived close by. And they didn't charge us to do so. We had goats, so we divided the goat pen in half with some "no climb" fencing, and made a temporary space for the donkeys. We kept the donkeys in this area until we could create a proper pen and shelter for them. Did I say that they were so wild we couldn't get near them? Oh boy--I thought we had made a terrible mistake once I was on to the full reality of the situation. We could not get near these creatures--not to pet, not to feed. And poor Miss Lovely had a terrible case of worms. It was so bad that they were literally coming out her behind! We needed to give her medicine to get rid of the worms, but couldn't get near her. We just didn't know what to do. We had the vet come out, and he was strong enough to lasso her and get close enough to her to feed her medicine. This kind of experience really counts when you have a wild donkey! He told us that we needed to corner the baby and hold him so that he could be "gentled." Otherwise, he would get big really quickly, and then it would be too late and difficult to do. Also, he could not be gelded if he could not be caught. We were terrified, but we did it. Let me tell you, little male donkeys are extremely strong, and they can kick! Eventually he got the idea that we would not hurt him and that we loved him, and he became a great little pal. It was not quite as fast with his mom. It actually took months to gain her trust. But when we did, and when it happened, it was like an epiphany. I cried and cried. One day, I was just about to give up on her. I offered her some hay, by hand, from the other side of the fence. To my great surprise, she actually took it. I couldn't believe it. I reached over the fence and kissed her on her soft little muzzle. I couldn't believe I did that, either. It actually shocked her. The expression on her face was like "Boioioing!" I could tell, though, that she liked it. Donkeys LOVE human touch once they have experienced it. From then on, I knew we were friends. I cried and cried when this happened. Now she is the kindest most gentlest being on earth. So precious.....

.....I want to tell you a story to give you an idea of how smart donkeys can be... In our herd, which is two horses and two donkeys, Mr. Grady, our male donkey, is third in the pecking order (Miss Lovely, his mom is lowest in the order). Django, the lead horse, happens to be highest in the pecking order, and bosses poor Mr. Grady around all day long. But don't worry, Mr. Grady is actually smarter than Django....In the winter, we keep the horses and donkeys in stalls at night, and each morning my husband would clean out the stalls and put food to prepare for the horses and donkeys returning in the evening. Mr. Grady actually figured out how to open the stall doors to get to the food. Django, the lead horse, of course wanted to know what was going on when Mr. Grady was in the stall eating, so he forced Mr. Grady to leave the stall and went into the stall himself. While Django was eating, Mr. Grady closed the door on him so he couldn't get out. Seriously. At first we thought this was just an amusing coincidence, but no. Mr. Grady knows exactly what to do with those who boss him around. He actually did this several times in a row, and we finally had to put locks on the stall doors to keep Mr. Grady out. He can figure out how to open just about anything, so we have to keep locks on all doors and gates. Donkeys can be extremely curious, and most of them are very smart.

those stories almost made me cry but I was too happy reading them to get to tears, cause it was just too darn amazing and cute and awesome!!!Thank you so much for sharing them, so people really can see the magic of donkeys, and how they have gotten a bad reputation from silly things like movies & TV - kinda like bats, snakes and spiders!!! 4 poeple have committed to sending donations via snail mail:::If you want to donate via snail mail, please email at the address in this blog post and ask me for the mailing address. :)I am Still needing donations!!! I can't wait to meet Ju Ju Bean!